Biblical Fiction

When an ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews, an inexperienced young queen must take a stand for her people. When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as "Esther" wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews--young and old, powerful and helpless. Purposely violating an ancient Persian law, she risks her life in order to save her people...and bind her husband's heart.

Recounts the life story of the author of the Gospel of Luke--from his life as a slave to his university studies as a medical student at Tarsus, from his acquaintance with Saul (Paul) of Tarsus to his ultimate discipleship and decision to write the story of Christ.

Harek, author of biblically-inspired novels such as Zipporah, Wife of Moses and Sarah, imagines the childhood and tumultuous young adulthood of Miriam (Mary) of Nazareth, mother of Jesus. Her loving parents Joachim and Hannah want to protect their daughter, but violence surrounds them as Herod's egregious taxation sparks Jewish insurrection. Miriam befriends a young revolutionary named Barabbas (yes, the same seditious Barabbas to be released more than three decades later instead of Jesus), and her world is upended by political uncertainty.

Riots and revolts spread across Judea. Twelve-year-old Yeshua is in Jerusalem about his Father's business in the Templeas his panic-stricken parents search for him amidst the chaos. Readers will enjoy reading this interesting story from Christ's youth. This is the ninth book in the A.D. Chronicles series. Includes historical maps and a discussion guide for individual or group study.

Leah, a young Jewess of mixed heritage, is secretly commissioned to discover the truth behind the death of an obscure rabbi in the Roman backwater of first-century Palestine while also being engulfed in her own turmoil--facing the prospect of an arranged marriage to a Roman soldier, Alban, who seems to care for nothing but his own ambitions as leader of the Roman garrison near Galilee.

In the tenth century BC, the new Queen of Sheba has inherited her father's throne and all its riches at great personal cost. Her realm stretches west across the Red Sea into land wealthy in gold, frankincense, and spices. But now new alliances to the North threaten the trade routes that are the lifeblood of her nation. Solomon, the brash new king of Israel famous for his wealth and wisdom, will not be denied the tribute of the world--or of Sheba's queen. With tensions ready to erupt within her own borders and the future of her nation at stake, the one woman who can match wits with Solomon undertakes the journey of a lifetime in a daring bid to test and win the king.